Thanks for the great write up. My Firehawk has an LS1 engine, and I was expecting this oil change to be similar. I came here to check, and I'm glad I did.
I'd like to make a couple of comments. My old car was a Porsche Boxster, 1999. Those cars had some serious design flaws related to oiling. As a result, a lot of testing and research was done by a few good Porsche repair shops (independant). The consensus was overwhelmingly that the best synthetic oil to use is Castrol with Syntec (black bottle). Mobil 1 used to be the best, but a long time ago, they changed the formula. It is now mediocre. The new formula saves them money, but doesn't change the price. Stuff like Royal Purple and Amsoil can be good, but tend to be very inconsistent in their makeup. I now only use Castrol with Syntec.
I also use some aluminum tape to tape an old hard drive magnet (rare earth magnet) to the side of my oil filter housings. This is a road racer trick. It helps trap any metal bits that may be in the oil, and makes it pretty obvious when abnormal wear goes on.
Thanks again for the write-up. Off to change the oil and wash the car for the first time.
